Council of Academic Advisors
Thursday, November 1, 2012
10:30 AM, Board Room
Present: Bryan Barker (UAASC), Laurie Black (Registrar’s Office), Donna Bradford
(COEHS), Jane Coplan (UAASC), Sue Dagit (Registrar’s Office), Jeanne
Gage (COEHS), Jennifer Grimm (Communications), Anna James (CBT),
Ehren Kuzekov (Study Abroad), Lisa Melz-Jennings (Athletics), Caryn
Morgan (CAS), Julie O’Brien (UAASC), Chris Ramsey (CBT),Colin Rogness
(BA/BGS), Jennifer Sandrik-Rubio (Physical Sciences), Renee Simpson
(UAASC), , Vicki Walters (Biology), Michelle Yager (UAASC)
I. Approval of October 3, 2012 and October 18, 2012 were distributed reviewed and
approved by the council members.
II. Freshmen & Transfer NSR – Michelle Yager
Yager, distributed updated changes to the Freshmen & Transfer New Student
Orientation that will be held on Friday November 16, 2012. The program is still
currently undergoing modest changes but the most important thing brought to the
attention of the council was that advisors will start a little later. Advisors need to be in
their advising rooms by 2:15. Below are the advising room assignments:
CAS – Stipes 307
CBT – Stipes 309
COEHS –
LEJA, EM, IDT, HE – Stipes 304
ED, FCS, KIN, RPTA, SW – Stipes 309
COFAC – Stipes 307
UA & OAS – Stipes 327
Michelle asked for volunteers who would be willing to mingle with students and their
parents during the check-in period, before the program formally begins. The
following people volunteered: Larry Pickett (ROTC), Molly Homer, Jennifer Grimm,
Kelly Morris, Jane Coplan, Megan Shaffer (UAASC Grad), and Ryan Trump (UAASC
Grad). This will occur in the Union Grand Ballroom from 12:00-12:30 pm.
The students and their guests will be in the Grand Ballroom from 12:30-1:30 pm for
the University Welcome and Student Life presentations. At 1:30 the students will be
taken to the Springfield Room where they will hear about the Centennial Honors and
Military Science programs. Then the students will be divided into three groups; those
needing to take the English placement (Stipes 313), those needing to take the math
placement (Stipes 331); and those not needing to test. All freshmen and transfer
students needing both English and Math testing will start by taking the English test
first. The students not testing will stay in the Springfield Room for the Student Panel
Discussion. At 2:15 these students will be divided by college and escorted to their
advising rooms. The following advisors should be in the Springfield Room by 2:10 to
pick up their students:
CAS – Ralph Heissinger
CBT – Jean Bird
COEHS – Angie Comrie & Tammy Wilson
COFAC – Jennifer Grimm
UA – Michelle Yager
As soon as a student finishes their placement exam/s, they will be directed to the
appropriate advising room. We will have a UAASC student worker and GA’s in the
Stipes’ third floor hallway giving assistance. For this reason, we want all advising to
be conducted on the same floor to avoid confusion and lost students.
III CAS Standards - Julie O’Brien
Julie announced to the group that the CAS standards include a sum of ten parts that
have been adjusted. Julie will send the updated document out on the advisor
listserve for review. She needs all comments and suggestions sent to her by
November 9, 2012. The plan is to have the standards and guidelines finalized within
the next month. The last time this document was revised was in 2004. December
13th is the date that the council will vote on final changes to the document.
IV Update Model Degree Plans
Yager informed the council that one of the goals of the SOAR planning committee is
to look at having information readily available for incoming freshmen. Yager is
working with Roger Runquist to stream line the pre-advising process onto the SOAR
website. O’Brien mentioned that she and Barker had reviewed the model degree
plans on the WIU website and found inconsistencies of dates on various degree
plans. There was some discussion about the dates provided and it was determined
that some of the dates that are older don’t necessarily mean that they are not up to
date. However, the issue at hand is that the dates may send conflicting messages
to students. Yager mentioned that perhaps we could modify the way this is
perceived or put in verbage on the website that provides clarity. Grimm also pointed
out that the direct model degree plan for each individual student is available on their
STARS account. We may also look at the possibility of training students to pay
close attention to their personal model degree plans as an alternative.
V. Standing Committee Reports
Professional Development and Networking
The committee will be hosting their first workshop this fall NACADA: Bring it Back to
WIU on Wednesday, November 28, 2012 from 9:00am – 10:30am in the Multicultural
Center.
Campus Affairs
The committee’s last meeting was canceled but it will be rescheduled to meet again
in the near future..
Morgan announced to the group that they are in the process of to creating a list
serve or forum where advisors can send information to each other. This list serve will
pick up all employees with the title advisor included with their name. Morgan also
mentioned that the list serve will be set up so that individuals will have the
opportunity to subscribe or unsubscribe to it.
In addition, campus affairs is looking at sponsoring a professional clothing drive for
individuals who could benefit from having professional wardrobe attire. This event
will take place next semester some time.
Assessment
Julie announced that the group is looking specifically at modifying questions in the
student evaluations. Once this task is complete they will start reviewing advisor
survey questions to determine what needs modifying.
Awards and Recognition
The September Advisor of the Month’, Michele Aurand, was surprised at her office
by the committee and the nominating student. Melz mentioned that they currently
have eight new nominations for the upcoming month. The flyers are definitely
helping to get the word out.
VI. CAGAS
Jean Bird did not have any CAGAS news to report as hse has been in Hawaii for the
last two weeks.
VII News from the Registrar’s Office –Sue Dagit
1.
Thursday, Nov. 1 – SP13 Advance Registration Opens
– Deadline for Transfer Cost Guarantee students to submit
Community
College transcript showing completed Associate’s Degree.
2. Monday, Nov. 19 – SP13 Open Registration Begins
3. Incompletes from Spring and Summer 2012 have been converted to “F” if no other
grade was submitted.
4. Please be sure to sign Graduation Applications for your advisees. We have gotten
several in the last week that were completed but not signed by the advisor.
VIII.
College Area News

Veteran Affairs; Kathy Meyers announced that the University will have a
tribute ceremony at the Sherman Hall flagpole on Friday, November 9th at
11:00 a.m.
November 10 will be a day of celebration, with a 5K scholarship run in honor
of Lt. Col. Robert Baldwin and Capt. Derek Dobogai, who were both killed in
the war. Following the run, there will be a WIU Leatherneck Veterans
Celebration at the Alumni House.

Study Aboard; Ehrin is in Spain so if there are any questions please contact
Emily Gorlewski.

College of Arts and Sciences; Jennifer Sandrik-Rubio is officially advising
all Science Teacher Education Majors.

General Studies; Elaina Vera and Gloria Delaney Barr will be filling in for
Ron Pettigrew during his deployment.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.